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Daily Archives: October 27, 2012

To the undecided, the uninformed, the skeptics, and those with their heads in the sand, the Obama administration is counting on you not having this information prior to Election Day. America’s hospitals and emergency room doctors are caught in a vise that spells financial collapse unless they play ball with hard-and-fast government mandates. The choice for hospitals is either government control over patient care or potential bankruptcy. For socialized medicine or Obama’s health care to work, the government requires control of your health by nullifying both hospitals and doctors as decision makers.

Over the weekend, FOX News did a brief story on the topic seemingly implying that there should be no real concern. With all due respect, FOX News needed to dig deeper. For those who doubt or question the harshly applied rules of Obamacare’s revised Medicare, let the doctors and patients on the front lines speak for themselves.

A doctor’s warning appeared in The Patriot Post: “Come spend a day with me at any of the four hospitals in two states that I practice at. You will see more government control and threats than you will possibly believe. They set clinical criteria that I do not want applied to any of my family, much less other folks. The government is telling me what I can do and what I must do and then refusing to pay if there is any outcome less than 100% without complication, regardless of the age or condition of the patient.” (Emphasis added)

FourWinds10.net posts, “I am a 67-year-old former Marine and a Vietnam veteran. I was scheduled for a cardio-lite stress test. It is a routine part of my heart maintenance program as ordered by my PCP and with approval from my cardiologist who is the head of Danbury Cardiology Department.” As the Marine stood before the hospital nurse, she informed him that his appointment was canceled due to denial of services: “So I said, I have Medicare, so what is my backup insurance doing denying anything? Then the bombshell. She said, ‘It was the Medicare Board that denied the procedure.’” A family member writes: I have an aunt in Florida that told me two weeks ago that she CANNOT receive a new knee replacement because she is no longer covered due to HER AGE!

The law, to fine hospitals for inadequate care that may contribute to re-admittance, primarily came into effect in 2010 under the guise of improving patient care. Without question, hospitals, doctors and caregivers must be held accountable for quality care. Medical malfeasance and error must result in payment for damages done to any patient. It was not, however, until Obama’s plan to strip Medicare of $716 billion to pay for Obamacare did the law’s inherent hardships on patients and doctors surface.

By gouging Medicare of billions of dollars to financially prop up Obamacare, Obama deceptively makes Obamacare appear less costly. There is the crux of the problem. In order to recoup those losses, Medicare now must ramp up fines on hospitals to recover long-term losses. The ratcheting down on hospitals with fines connected to a patient’s re-admittance to the hospital that occurs within a 30-day timeframe has begun. As a result, doctors are forced into untenable and litigious situations when it comes to readmitting patients. Doctors describe the cost-cutting provision under Obamacare’s revamping of Medicare as “life-threatening.”

CNNMoney.com writer Parija Kavilanz reported: “A medium-sized general hospital could lose upward of $1 million a year from these penalties at a time when all providers are struggling to keep up with escalating health care costs. He further noted, “Medicare will stop paying hospitals for preventable readmissions tied to health conditions such as heart failure or pneumonia. (Emphasis added.) In 2014, HHS will expand that policy to cover four additional health conditions.” Stroke treatment and joint replacements are reportedly being added to the list. Bottom line, if there are complications within 30-days after being treated at a hospital for heart attacks, pneumonia, joint replacements or a stroke, re-admittance to the hospital may be denied.

As an illustration, let’s say our guy, Chad, has an accident or illness. He enters the hospital. Historically, Medicare demands that the hospital keep him for as short a time as possible to cut costs to the government. So, to comply, he is released accordingly. Two weeks later, Chad gets an infection or ruptures his sutures. Is that Chad’s fault or is it the hospital’s fault? Either way, Chad’s in trouble. He goes to the emergency room. Chad’s medical charts reveal that Chad was released two weeks ago from the hospital and now has complications in regard to his initial treatment. Chad learns if a hospital readmits too many Medicare patients within 30 days because of a recurring medical issue, that the hospital will be fined. But, Chad wants in; someone else will have to be turned away in the numbers game set-up under the law. The doctor is forced to decide who gets in based on a financial decision versus a purely medical one.

HealthLeaders Media’s Cheryl Clark wrote that Dr. Richard Wolfe of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center asked, “What is the most expensive thing we do? It’s that we admit patients to the hospital. If we can be effective gatekeepers, we can play an absolutely critical role (in reducing costs), but we need to start thinking about how we find other safe places to deliver care.” ER doctors are caught in the middle. In the article, URGENT – DEATH PANELS HERE, DOCTORS PLEA FOR HELP (LINK), government regulations trapped an emergency room doctor between treating critically ill patients and the hospital’s financial obligations to Medicare to turn them away. The doctor lamented, “As more and more are added to the Obamacare rolls, there will be less and less access. People will get sicker and yes, people will die because of it. I had a sick and sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach today after both of these incidents.”

What Obama also attempts to obfuscate is that Obamacare triggers tax increases while doing nothing to insure Medicare’s solvency. Forbes’ Avik Joy chronicles Freedom on Call’s Chris Jacobs who points out that Nancy Pelosi (CA-D) admitted last year that Democrats “…‘took a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare’ in Obamacare.” Adding, “…You can’t improve Medicare’s solvency by taking money out of the program.” Jacobs forewarns that “80% of middle class workers” will be hit with higher tax rates that are buried in the Obamacare law. Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney vows to reinstate to Medicare the currently estimated $716 billion that Obama misappropriated.

Obama’s engineered pilfering of Medicare funds is deterring doctors in hospitals nationwide from administering much needed care. Obamacare hijacks one-eighth of the U.S. economy, shifting to the Obama administration unprecedented power over the people and the nation. Under Obama, denial of medical care to large segments of our population will not be the exception, but the new normal. Please share this article and the following links with broadcast news outlets such as FOX News, CNN and the mainstream media. Insist they devote more than a short few minutes to a story this critical to the health care of all Americans and their families.

Sharon Sebastian (www.DarwinsRacists.com) is an author, writer, and contributor to various forms of media including cultural and political broadcasts, print, and online websites. In addition to the heated global debate on creation vs. evolution, her second book, Darwin’s Racists – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, highlights the impact of Social Darwinism’s Marxist/Socialist underpinnings on the culture, the faith and current policy out of Washington. Critics are calling Darwin’s Racists – “Incredibly Timely” and “A Book for our Times.” Sebastian’s political and cultural analyses are published nationally and internationally. Website: www.DarwinsRacists.com. “Darwin’s Racists – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” may be ordered at: www.DarwinsRacists.com, www.Amazon.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com and at bookstores online and worldwide. Sharon Sebastian’s insights on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdZHzMG66Kg

As Hurricane Sandy inches its way closer to the Eastern seaboard the news from the media is flooding the airwaves about the dire consequences of its arrival. Upwards of 30-50 million people could be affected in Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and more. Besides the storm surges and flooding and monsoon rains there is now word that many of the affected will be without electrical power. One week before the most important presidential election in our lifetimes. Without electrical power the voting machines will not work. And neither will the vote counting tabulators. And the return of the electrical power could take weeks. It would only be natural disaster if the flooding disrupted commerce but to disenfranchise the right to vote for millions of people is a crisis that cannot be allowed to go to waste. And to use this storm as a massive coverup to the greatest vote stealing scam would be the crime of the century.

For months now there have been rumors that Barack Hussein Obama might look for something to use as an excuse to declare Martial Law and postpone the national elections if the polls showed that he was way behind. But during those months he was acting confident because he was enjoying a double digit lead. Lately, the surge of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in the polls has changed everything. The Occupy mob hasn’t been heard from lately so there is no chance for any rioting in the streets and no reason to call out the National Guard or the Army. Obama did plan for such an event when he issued those Executive Orders allowing him to take over the essential elements that our society depends on.

But what could he be thinking of right now with a monster storm only days away from Washington, D.C. about to shut off the largest Democrat voting stronghold in the nation? Could this be Obama’s storm of opportunity?

My name is Nelson Abdullah and I am Oldironsides and I pray to God that I am wrong.

The news broke yesterday that Likud, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, and Yisrael Beitenu, headed Avigdor Lieberman, who is currently foreign minister, have decided to run together in the election, with a joint list.

Credit: Guardian

The logic is obvious: After the election, the party that has garnered the most mandates (seats in the Knesset) will be asked by the president to form a coalition (a number of parties that together have 61 or more mandates), which will constitute the new government.

There has been considerable talk on the left/center about a joint party — possibly including Tzipi Livni, formerly head of Kadima; Shaul Mofaz, who currently heads Kadima; Haim Ramon, who had jumped from Labor to Kadima and then quit Kadima; Yair Lapid, who is supposed to be forming the new party Yesh Atid; even Ehud Olmert of Kadima (although this is now unlikely) — Shelley Yacimovich, how head of Labor, may have been in on that as well. The notion was that this new party would garner more seats than Likud, thus pushing out Netanyahu.

That prospect has not materialized — although talk of it will now be reinvigorated — but Netanyahu pre-empted them on this. As savvy a politician as exists here currently, he was not about to sit and wait to see what would happen. What we learn now is that this plan with Lieberman has been in the works for two months.

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If Likud and Yisrael Beitenu each retain their current number of seats, then this merger would bring in a combination of 42 seats, which is considered to be probably unbeatable by any combination of left/center parties.

The number may be lower, as some in favor of Likud might be turned off by Yisrael Beitenu and vice versa. But there is also the possibility that it could be higher (as much as 51 according to one poll).

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Lieberman is something of a wild card. He often speaks with an honesty that is unusual for politicians, and I have repeatedly praised him for this. He says bluntly that there will be no peace agreement in light of how the PA is conducting itself, and pretending to pursue it now is silly.

But on occasion he comes forward with something that is slightly off the wall, or that marks him as lacking in diplomatic skill. He is not a far right crazy, which is how the left seeks to have him seen. That he tilts right and will have considerable influence on the new government is a good thing, from where I sit.

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It has been made clear that Netanyahu will still be in charge. He will be number one on the list and would again become prime minister if his joint party won. Lieberman will be second on the list. Following this will be two members of Likud, two members of Yisrael Beitenu, and on from there. Much will come clear in the days and weeks ahead.

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In passing let me note something that, with everything else happening, I let slip by: Habayit Hayehudi and National Union, both nationalist parties, have also achieved a merger of sorts, although that merger is incomplete (with one faction of National Union withdrawing). I see this a positive, as their clout will increase as a coalition is formed.

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An additional gain for the country can be seen in this recent move towards larger merged parties. Too often the successful formation of a coalition has depended upon several small splinter parties that have made demands beyond what would be reasonable for their numbers. This would render such a situation less likely.

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But I would like to turn from this to a completely different and potentially quite important issue:

According to Sudanese claims — which seem to have been confirmed — there was an attack from the air on its Yarmouk military complex near Khartoum at midnight Tuesday. The target of this attack is understood to have been a munitions factory.

Sudan has accused Israel of initiating the attack. Israel has had no comment regarding the attack.

However, what Israel has called to light in recent days is Sudan’s role in terrorism and its relationship to Iran. Amos Gilad, director of policy and political-military affairs for the Ministry of Defense, told Army Radio that:

“We need to understand exactly what happened there, but the role of Sudan is clear: It is a dangerous terrorist state.”

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The JPost on Friday cited the Shin Bet as saying that “Sudan is the central crossroads in a major weapons smuggling route from Iran that passes through Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula and from there on to the Gaza Strip.”

According to Yaakov Lappin, citing open sources, “…officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have loaded long-range rockets and an array of sophisticated missiles onto ships at Iran’s Port Bandar Abbas, from where ships have sailed to Sudan. From there the weapons travel in land convoys into Egypt, and are then smuggled into Gaza via tunnels from Sinai.”

On more than one occasion, land convoys in eastern Sudan believed to have been carrying Iranian weapons have been intercepted by air; these attacks are presumed to have been initiated by Israel.

Speculation is that Iran ” may well have decided to construct a rocket factory in the Sudanese capital, shortening the distance between the arms’ manufacturing center and their target destination.”

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The implications of the bombing of the Sudanese munitions factory, if it was carried out by Israel, are several. First, and most obviously, a supply of weapons intended for launching at Israeli civilians has been destroyed.

But beyond this are the messages imparted to Iran. There is the evidence of Israel’s readiness to interfere, even in distant places, with Iran’s efforts to foment terrorism against Israel. And then, what is worthy of note is that Khartoum is roughly the same distance from Israel — 1,900 kilometers — as Iran is, at 1,600 kilometers away . Iran would not have missed the implications here regarding Israel’s long range jet capabilities.

“Intelligence officials from several countries say Iran in recent weeks has virtually completed an underground nuclear enrichment plant. The installation of the last of nearly 3,000 centrifuges at Fordo, deep under a mountain near Qum, puts Iran closer to being able to build a nuclear weapon.

“Iran’s progress was disclosed by officials familiar with the findings of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency who have been to the site recently. While the plant is not yet fully running – fewer than half of all its centrifuges are spinning out enriched uranium – Iran could have it doing so within months, officials say.”

In passing: A week ago, the ship called the Estelle, which set sail with the intention of breaking the sea blockade of Gaza, was stopped by the Israeli navy. When calls to the ship to cooperate and change course were ignored, the ship was boarded — it was done peacefully and without incident. The ship was rerouted to Ashdod port and those aboard were handled by immigration authorities.

PM Netanyahu stated at the time that, “Their entire objective was to create a provocation and blacken Israel’s name. If human rights were really important to these activists, they would sail to Syria.”

As I understand it, no humanitarian supplies were found on board, delivery of such supplies not being the genuine intention of those on the ship.

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A typo that from my last post: I dropped some zeroes when I wrote that the Emir of Qatar had brought Hamas $400,000. That’s mere chicken feed. His gift totaled $400 million. (Thanks Bennet R.)